Broken Window Model Essay

In Light Blue Versus Dark Blue: Attitudinal Differences in Quality-of Life Policing, Lorenzo M. Boyd explores the difference between the attitudes of Black and White police officers regarding quality-of-life arrest. Boyd explains that quality-of-life arrest focus police resources on aggressive enforcement of social and physical disorders and not only crime per se (Boyd 38, 2010). In other words, “police believe that strategically targeting disorder and/or quality-of-life violations instead of just responding to service calls is critical in preventing serious crimes” (Boyd 38, 2010). This type of policing often referred to as Broken Windows Theory or broken windows policing focus on low quality crimes such as graffiti and vandalism. These crimes are often victimless and more likely crimes against property.

An individual is a production of his or her environment and context and can their actions can be easily effected. The concept is brought up and examined in Malcolm Gladwell's book The Power of Context: The Rise and Fall of New York City Crime. The idea is shown in real examples in both Leslie Bell’s book Hard to Get: Twenty Something Women and the Paradox of Sexual Freedom and Jean Twenge An Army of One: Me. The concept that one is affected by his or her environment or context is a radical idea due to it going against the traditional concept that an individual is the product of their upbringing and past experiences. The Broken Windows Theory as stated in Gladwell's work gives an explanation as to why an individual can be a product of

Broken Windows policing refers to a form of policing that is based upon the broken windows theory, which serves as a metaphor for disorder within neighborhoods. According to this theory, a direct relationship exists between levels of disorder/incivility within a community and subsequent occurences of serious crime; therefore, the greater the disorder, the greater chance of serious crime offenses occuring, and vice versa. Broken windows policing works in cohesion with this theory to combat disorder within a neighborhood/community before it manifests into serious crime (ie: fix the broken window before the entire house becomes neglected or ruined). To do this, foot patrol was enforced, which, in additon to battling disorder, attempted to improve community engagement, partnership, and trust.

The “broken windows” model of policing was created as an experimental way of policing areas of high crime. The main focus of the “broken windows” model of policing was

In light of the recent spate of police-involved homicides of suspects who may or may not have put the lives of the police involved in fear for their safety and well-being, this paper seeks to examine the use of deadly force by police officers in the line of duty. The training involved in using one’s service weapon in situations that call for a determination of the use of force will be explored, as will the rules, regulations, and extenuating circumstances that lead to the firing of a service weapon in the line of duty, resulting in the death of a suspect. The Supreme Court cases that have led to and/or upheld laws allowing a broader interpretation of what is considered justifiable use of deadly force will be briefly examined. Additionally, the use of non-lethal weapons, such as Tasers, by police forces and how the availability of these weapons influences the rate of deadly force will be inspected. Finally, an elucidation of the various perceptions of the general public of the police after use of deadly force is used within their communities will be addressed.

According to criminologists James Q. Wilson and George Kelling, “… crime is the inevitable result of disorder.” (qtd. In Gladwell, paragraph 2). Wilson and Kelling are the masterminds behind The Broken Windows theory. The theory states that is a window is left unfixed after it is broken, people will come to the conclusion that there is no control. If that happens, more windows will be broken signifying that anything can happen. Dress code violations, mass shootings, and police brutality encounters are examples of broken windows.

When it comes down to the causes of police brutality.Police training is one of them.There are about 600 different law academies with anywhere from 28 to 9 weeks of training. Some academies have training that shows an emphasis on community policing skills or have a military boot camp type feel. Some show how to de-escalate a violent, or tense situation, how to deal with the mentally ill focusing on firearm usage, and criminal laws and arrest procedures. Not all police academies have the same priorities, it all depends on which department they choose to apply

We all know this isn’t true there are people that have weapons and people who don’t (Amaya, "Police Brutality in America.”). There were some historical things that lead to this problem in a way. One of them being the civil war and how our country was divided in a war about whether there should have been slavery. Another thing that could have lead to this from history was the civil rights act, it was trying to bring everyone together and accept eachothers race. Everything else wasn’t because of something from the past, it’s all happening itself. It all happens depending on the officer's decision in a split second.

As of September 1, 2015, in the United States police officers have killed 776 people and 161 of those people were unarmed at the time of their death (MintPress). There have been too many incidents where police officers have injured or killed someone that could have been prevented. Using maximum force with a suspect has become a routine in many confrontations. Officers have not been given the proper training to deal with individuals and how to handle them without using a weapon. If they were given more training on how to deal with situations resulting in using a weapon to stop an individual during certain scenarios police brutality situations would decrease, lives would be saved, and police would get their good reputation back. However, police departments would have to spend more money on re-training. Some people agree with police brutality and think that a civilian deserved their punishment, which is not right because no one deserves to be beaten or killed. Situations involving police brutality have been increasing throughout the years, which is a problem that must to be solved.

In March 1982, The Atlantic magazine ran an article titled “Broken Windows” by George L. Kelling and James Q. Wilson. [1] The authors of this now famous article wrote, “Social psychologists and police officers agree that if a window in a building is broken and is left unrepaired, all the rest of the windows will soon be broken.” One broken window, left unrepaired, is a signal that the building is abandoned and that no one cares, so breaking more windows means nothing. The authors continue, “Vandalism can occur anywhere once communal barriers—the sense of mutual regard and the obligations of civility—are lowered by actions that seem to signal that ‘no one cares.’”

Results from this study suggest that when people, such as police officers, are given the authority to use whatever force deemed necessary by an authority such as the police department, they feel justified using their “power” however they feel. David Lester conducted a study in which he found police officers attain an “expectation of harm” through their schooling at police academies (Lester 186). Lester found “shifts in…attitudes during both academy training and the period of working” (Lester 186) to officers being less willing to admit to the existence of police brutality. It seems that the departments do not see the occurrences as brutal, but as self-defense.

Police officers are faced with a wide variety of threatening situations on the job every day, they go through an intensive training at the academy to prepare them for the safety keeping job they have. The use of force may or may not be a significant predicament but it should be viewed by the community as well as the police. Often police officers find

When people talk about the general status of society, they usually throw into the conversation a frequently misunderstood word: economy. Ironically, its definition is not what confuses people; the problem for them is understanding economics itself. Understanding economics, the study of how the economy works, is much less complicated than most people would think. As Henry Hazlitt aptly states: “The art of economics consists in looking not merely at the immediate but at the longer effects of any act or policy; it consists in tracing the consequences of that policy not merely for one group but for all groups.”

M., Johari, N., & Salleh, M. M. 2012). This reflects the findings of broken windows theory by Wilson and Kelling (1982). The premise behind broken windows theory is that if an area is vandalized and then left unrepaired that gives off a releaser cue, which is that that area or space has little meaning or value to the community and that little attention will be paid to further vandalization or criminal activity; this the starts a chain reaction in which small crimes appear to be acceptable in that space which will lead to more serious crimes and disorder ( S. Schenider 2015). So according to broken windows theory it is very important to the success of public space that minor issues do not go unchecked as they may lead to a more serious problem, small things like litter, vandalization, or drug use should not be tolerated as they may lead to an increase in serious

It’s on the news all the time, Leon Neyfakh has stated, “The Most Innocent Victim” (2017, [online]) and Scott Wise explained, “Man Killed outside 7-Eleven after a violent encounter with police” (2017, [online]). Following negative encounters with police officers, the common theme is how police officers need better training, or shouldn’t have guns on them if they are just going to shoot innocent people or use excessive force. However, if that is true, the first step would be to make sure that the training police officers receive teaches them what they need to